"I Voted Today"

I went to the polling place, I filled in the little circles, and I put my
paper ballot into the little machine for counting. I feel relatively sure
that my vote was counted correctly, as were those of others in my constituency.
I feel confident in the results of the election; despite those on the far
left crying foul about the statements of Diebold's CEO (promising to deliver
Ohio in the coming election) and putting on their tin-foil caps, I'm pretty
sure that here in DuPage County, Illinois, we were represented accurately.

I also feel a little bit disturbed. We, as a nation, just vindicated the
choices made by the administration over the past four years: the good ones,
and the bad ones. To our credit, we sent a well-spoken black man to the
Senate, and to my dismay, we sent a low-brow ruffian back to the White House.
We created, through our electoral process, a completely Republican state:
Congress, Senate, POTUS, and, due to the declining health of Hon. Judge
Renquist, the Supreme Court.

I was hoping for a restoration of the balance in government that we've lacked
over the last four years; we've witnessed domestic policy tinted with religious
fervor, and global policy based on military superiority. Instead, we've chosen
to re-affirm that course. The PATRIOT Act will remain in force for four more
years, grossly violating the rights of the citizenry to feel secure in their
day-to-day dealings. The Digital Millenium Copyright Act will continue to
pressure bright programmers to seek employment in other countries, or imprison
them in this one. We will continue to set domestic policy for other sovereign
nations, with or without the support of the global community behind us. And
we will continue to increase our level of indebtedness to the countries of
that global community, with deficits that only a few years ago would have
seemed ludicrous.